BOLO BOLO.

BOLO BOLO: Be on the look out.

The BOLO is the crime watch alert system for Loyola University New Orleans. They give you the rundown on current crime happenings. For many students at Loyola, it goes beyond a catchphrase, BOLO becomes a lifestyle. It is a Loyno thing, but it is also about NOLA too. Once you know about the BOLO lifestyle, it never really goes away. NOLA features it’s own unique type of urban existence. Things are funkier, weirder, grimier and more BOLO. You can be BOLO BOLO, you can get BOLO. When you’re in a rough area of town,

You can get BOLO, “I was drinking the Jager, things got BOLO.” “I went to the Saint. I think I lost my dignity last night.” A person can also get BOLOed. One minute you’re chilling in an apartment, the next minute, you catch a glimpse of the “flabby thighs flasher.” BOLO BOLO!! When you’re out in NOLA, you can often feel that BOLO all around you. It’s like a Spidey sense for poor decisions. Sometimes, in a rough area of town, you can feel that BOLO creeping in. It’s your intuition telling you to be on the look out. BOLO BOLO is seeing a dude get judo thrown through a glass door as you’re walking into the high school bar.

Being on the look out creates a strange sense of street-level awareness. Once, on the epic three block trek from Feret to Maple, I was hassled by the crackhead diversity rainbow. Within 5 minutes, 6 crackheads of almost every race, color and creed came up to me. They all gave me the same sob story about how their car ran out of gas and how they also needed money for their insulin. I often wonder if some crackheads go to the same finishing school to learn these lines?

Mardi Gras is, of course, a whole different level of BOLO. However, NOLA can be just as rowdy on a random Monday. Uptown, Downtown, CBD, West Bank, it can all get BOLO at any given time. It’s one of the great/awful things that makes New Orleans so unique.

NOLA teaches you to expect the unexpected at all times. Whenever you leave your house, you never know what will be coming your way, but you are prepared for whatever insanity may lie ahead. In life, you will never know what is next, but it’s always important to be on the look out.